Over half a million people in rich countries lost their jobs in April |
More than half a million people in rich countries became jobless in April as the economic fallout of the pandemic continued, according to the latest data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which reported that the joblessness rate in the OECD’s 30 member states rose to 6.6% during the month, from 6.5% in March. The total number of unemployed in OECD countries reached 43.781 million in April, up by 722,000 from the previous month. The jobless population in seven major countries - Canada, United States, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom - increased by 234,000 to 21.7 million. The global economy is expected to grow faster this year following the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines and fiscal stimulus in major economies, the OECD said. “Global economic growth is now expected to be 5.8% this year, a sharp upwards revision from the December 2020 Economic Outlook project of 4.2% for 2021.” |
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